The Congress: Astronomy of War

Even to Representatives used to dealing with megamillions,
it was a staggering figure. At $70.3 billion,
the 1968 defense appropriations bill for the year beginning July 1
passed by the House last week was only slightly less than the military
budget for 1944, when the U.S. had 11,450,000 men under arms (v.
3,370,000 today), and came close to equaling the accumulated revenues
of the entire Federal Government for the first 138 years of its
history. In closer perspective, it was only 1.4% less than Congress
appropriated for all federal agencies, military and civilian, ten short
years ago.